With the weather getting colder, usually I find that I start craving naughty food. I don't want salads or fresh fruit. Usually I want hot chocolates with cream and extra marshmallows, and stodgy food that will keep me warm. For some reason, that doesn't seem to have happened yet this year and instead I've been craving quinoa and all the good stuff! So when I was invited to sample Garden Kitchen's new menu, I couldn't resist trying their healthy mezze. It's been a while since my last review, and I was pleased to see that along with their delicious picnics, they had plenty of new dishes to offer! Since it's been a while since I'd seen one of my good friends and she'd just had a baby, I thought it was the perfect place for a girly catch up.

I'm not going to lie, as soon as I'd started looking at the menu, the sound of chicken, Israeli Couscous Salad, Taboulleh, Quinoa Salad, Baba Ganoush, Avocado and Five Seeds, was too tempting for me to look at anything else. Helen on the other hand was a little more indecisive and eventually went for their fish finger sandwich and we shared a side of sweet potato fries. I'm not sure whether she was expecting such a posh fish finger sandwich but when the fresh white fish goujons in their soft ciabatta was sit enough, she seemed pretty happy with her choice!

What I love about Garden Kitchen is that food is always such good quality. Whether it's cakes and coffees or a full meal, I've always felt like everything tasted super fresh! And my healthy mezze was certainly no exception. The combination of the pomegranate's sweetness and the nutty taste of the quinoa and taboulleh was perfect. I wasn't quite sure how I'd find the baba ganoush but it went really well with the avocado, so definitely no complaints. Although I'm definitely not the one to usually opt for a salad, since my first trip to Naked Deli a few weeks back, I have had a proper craving for health food. And it always seem so filling.

After working my through (and helping Helen out with the fries), we ordered a couple of coffees and settled back to catch up on gossip. I always think Garden Kitchen is sort of in a strange place for a restaurant. But being in Eldon Gardens, rather than the main part of the shopping centre, it has a sort of peaceful feel to it. You don't get too many shoppers bustling past and it's a quiet place to sit and catch up with friends.